Fixing Power Rangers: An Introduction

Ever since I was a kid, I've had a strange obsession with a television series called Power Rangers. That obsession continues to this day, despite quite a large number of hiccups along the way. Dissatisfied as I am with the present state of the franchise, I've taken it upon myself to hypothesize a better version of it than currently exists.

Power Rangers began in 1993 as a low-budget children's show that used stock footage lifted from a 1992 Japanese television series called Super Sentai (and, specifically, the season entitled Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger) spliced together with original footage featuring American actors in between the parts that had color-coded superheroes fighting rubber-suited monsters. Despite how silly the premise and overall aesthetic of the show was, it managed to build up a massive following - comparable to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle craze a few years prior during the 80s. As it went on and the stock footage ran its course, they started using more seasons of Super Sentai to adapt into equivalent seasons of Power Rangers. The show's popularity eventually petered off after a few years, but the toy sales remained consistently high which kept the show on the air... at least until 2009, when it seemed like the show's final season - Power Rangers RPM - would act as a swan song for the franchise.

Things become complicated here, however. Disney owned the Power Rangers franchise at that point and began airing recut versions of the earliest season of the show, essentially ringing the death knell for any future seasons with new Rangers. However, Saban Brands - the production company behind the first ten seasons of the show - bought back the Ranger rights. This was claimed as something of a Second Coming among fans, saying that now that the show was back where it belonged, a new Golden Age would emerge... except it didn't.

The reality of the situation suddenly became much more complicated. Saban Brands wanted to revitalize the franchise (part of this included a film deal with Lionsgate that eventually produced the movie reboot that came out a month ago) and their strategy was, apparently, to double down on the tone and style of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. This might have worked if we were still in the 90s, but the issue is that children's television has evolved to a significant degree. With shows like Young Justice, Legend of Korra, Steven Universe, and Voltron: Legendary Defender, there has been and still is a renaissance in children's television. Even Power Rangers had benefited from this overall improvement, with seasons like Time Force, SPD, and especially RPM having dark, involved storylines with complex characters.

Despite the vehicles theme (something that had nearly killed the franchise before), the sillier-than-usual design of the Zords, and highly comedic Sentai origins, Power Rangers RPM managed to beat the odds. They pulled out every trick they had for this seemingly final season. Loving jokes about the inherent ridiculousness of Power Rangers staples, incredible characters with a fantastic cast (many of whom have gone on to star in mainstream television shows), a dark yet hopeful setting in a post-apocalyptic world, and likely the highest amount of original footage ever shot for a season of Power Rangers which proves that, even on the shoestring budget provided by Disney, you could make a season of Power Rangers that doesn't have to rely on the Sentai without going over budget.

Yet, none of that carried over into what came to be known as the Neo-Saban Era of Power Rangers. None of the complexity, none of the tone, none of the affection for the property that had kept seasons like In Space, SPD, and RPM some of the best seasons that Power Rangers could offer. Instead, there was an overreliance on Sentai footage, straight adaptations of the Sentai often word-for-word, very basic characters that had almost no depth outside their surface personalities, and a shocking disrespect for the show's legacy. The following seasons of the show (with one exception) were not at all very good. Fans were appalled and disappointed with what they got, especially after the stellar RPM.

So, this is what I propose: let's imagine an alternate universe where, after Disney had sold off Power Rangers to Saban Brands, they did something a little different with it. In our world, executive producer Jonathan Tzachor rejected the proposal of Amit Bhaumik - a writer on the show during its early days - for Power Rangers Samurai. In this new universe, Haim Saban never rehired Tzachor to executive produce the show, and instead handed off creative control to a showrunner whose vision for the show could be fulfilled. In addition, the deal with Nickelodeon had an extra stipulation attached: 40 episodes of the show would be aired every year, with no exceptions. This would tie Nickelodeon's hands and their "20 episodes per year" model would be the rule for every show except Power Rangers, which would run for most weeks of the year with new episodes.

In this hypothetical universe, let's just say that Power Rangers has become the smash hit that Saban Brands wanted, which means that any season can do basically whatever it wants with impunity since toy sales are higher than ever. And also because this whole segment is inspired by and will be following the example set by Amit Bhaumik's version of Power Rangers Samurai, it will be used as the starting point of the alternate universe Neo-Saban Era.

For those that haven't read it, here is a very useful link:
Power Rangers: Samurai - Original Proposal

This is a fantastic premise and overall plan for the revived series, allowing it to explore some very complex themes and ideas regarding the nature of family, inheritance, legacy, duty, and honor while also respecting the Japanese roots of Shinkenger, the series which Samurai was adapted from, but not being beholden to the actual plot of Shinkenger.

Power Rangers Samurai will not be featured as one of the seasons covered by this segment as Amit Bhaumik has already done a fantastic job retooling it. I would make some stipulations regarding this season, however. For one, when I refer to the names from Power Rangers Samurai, I will use the ones from real life just to keep things simple and make bookkeeping easier. This means that "Samurai Morphers" are still "Samuraizers," and "Mark Ozawa" is "Jayden Shiba." Two, because the "race" of the characters matters so much more in Power Rangers Samurai, it will be the only season where the actors I choose won't be the same as in the real versions. For that reason, I won't show the actors for Samurai if/when I decide to use gifs/pictures to illustrate my point. Third, there would have been a crossover similar to "Clash of the Red Rangers" in Amit Bhaumik's proposal, also aired as a sort of "movie" on Nickelodeon. Because if the real Neo-Saban pulled it off, then surely our hypothetical one can, too.

(For more information, you can take a look at the Fixing Power Rangers: Samurai Revised article written as a sort of post-script on Amit Bhaumik's original pitch.)

Also, can I just say how much I love the idea of Jayden leaving the team, being replaced as Red Ranger and leader by Lauren, then coming back as a second Red Ranger - Quantum Ranger-style - and becoming the Shogun Ranger which would make him the first Power Ranger to ever leave the team, hand off his role to another person, then become the show's Sixth - or, in this case, Seventh - Ranger? (Well, all in one season, at least. Technically, Jason did that in Zeo.) It's just such a fantastic turnabout for the character. Also, it gives me the excuse to show this:

Say what you will about the overall level of quality that Power Rangers Samurai had, but its visuals were among the best that Power Rangers ever produced.

With that out of the way, here is the current version of the new timeline:

SABAN ERA:
1993: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger)
1994: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Season 2 (Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger and Gosei Sentai Dairanger)
1995: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Season 3 / Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers (Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, Gosei Sentai Dairanger, and Ninja Sentai Kakuranger)
1996: Power Rangers Zeo (Chouriki Sentai Ohranger)
1997: Power Rangers Turbo (Gekisou Sentai Carranger)
1998: Power Rangers In Space (Denji Sentai Megaranger)
1999: Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (Seijuu Sentai Gingaman)
2000: Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue (Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive)
2001: Power Rangers Time Force (Mirai Sentai Timeranger)
2002: Power Rangers Wild Force (Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger)

DISNEY ERA:
2003: Power Rangers Ninja Storm (Ninpū Sentai Hurricaneger)
2004: Power Rangers Dino Thunder (Bakuryū Sentai Abaranger)
2005: Power Rangers SPD (Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger)
2006: Power Rangers Mystic Force (Mahou Sentai Magiranger)
2007: Power Rangers Operation Overdrive (GoGo Sentai Boukenger)
2008: Power Rangers Jungle Fury (Juken Sentai Gekiranger)
2009: Power Rangers RPM (Engine Sentai Go-Onger)
2010: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Re-Version (Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger)

NEO-SABAN ERA:
2011: Power Rangers Samurai (Samurai Sentai Shinkenger)

On the next Fixing Power Rangers, we explore the real reason why I started this whole project, to begin with. We're going to go back to the show's roots with Power Rangers Megaforce.